Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan has ordered the Ministry of Education and Training to issue within one month a master plan on human resources development in the education sector for the 2011-2020 period.
Universities and colleges of pedagogy nationwide are expected to use the plan to develop their training targets for teachers and educational officials, Nhan told an online conference last Saturday.
He also ordered universities and colleges to speed up reform of teaching methodologies and to raise the qualifications of teachers.
Modern models on training teachers should also be adopted to improve the training quality of universities and colleges of pedagogy.
Nguyen Vinh Hien, deputy minister of Education and Training, admitted that some schools and universities were still short of teachers. Meanwhile, their ability to speak foreign languages and use science and technology was still limited.
In addition, State policies for teachers were not suitable enough to encourage devotion and creativity, Hien said.
The development of pedagogy at universities and colleges had not been directed by any master plan or guided by research, he added.
Participants also said planning and enrolment of pedagogic teachers should be considered more carefully, considering that in some provinces like Hai Duong and Dak Nong, many graduates in this field were unable to find jobs.
In the meeting, Nhan also required the education sector to drastically upgrade the technology used in pedagogic schools, saying that it was necessary for the schools to modernise education technology.
The Ministry of Education and Training recently announced a draft on the development of pedagogy universities and colleges for the 2011-2020 period, according to the deputy minister.
It targets having a quarter of lecturers at universities of pedagogy having doctoral degrees and all of them having master degrees by 2015.
Half of lecturers at universities of pedagogy are expected to have doctoral degrees by 2020.
By 2020, teachers of high schools will have to be university graduates, while those of kindergartens and primary schools should have college degrees.
Under the plan, the student-teacher ratio will be no more than 20/1 by that year.
The draft revealed that most universities and colleges of pedagogy had failed to develop plans on human resources, training quality, science research and co-operation with foreign universities. They had also neglected to invest in infrastructure and laboratory equipment.
In addition, the old syllabi of universities and colleges were also lagging behind the newer methods and philosophies of education.
The country has 133 institutions providing training of teachers and educational officials, including 14 universities of pedagogy and 49 universities with pedagogy faculties.
In July, the Prime Minister approved a national master plan on human resources development for the 2011-2020 period, which includes measures to develop the quality of teachers and educational officials.
| Top scorers honoured Last Saturday, the Ministry of Education and Training co-operated with the Vietnamese Student Association to organise a programme honouring top scorers in this year\'s university entrance exam and prize-winning students at the international Olympic 2011 Competition. Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan affirmed that the Party and State always pay attention to students by building dormitories or granting scholarships for excellent students to study abroad. He said those who earned the highest marks on university entrance exams or won Olympic prizes were examples for young people nationwide to follow. Their success was a testament to the continuous growth of the country\'s education sector. He hoped these students would go on to do good work and give back to their families and the society. There were 30 top scorers in the 2011 university exam and 27 students who earned prizes in Olympic 2011 competition. |
